Year End Q & A

How do you feel about 2020?

Without a doubt, this year will go down in history as one we never want to revisit. Certainly, we've read (and lived through) challenges we never imagined we'd endure. News folks, other commentators, and journalists have beaten us nearly to death with negativity from virtually all fronts—and understandably so. 

We are writers of fiction and nonfiction. We are editors, journalists, and so on. Among our talents is the ability to look at any given situation from a variety of perspectives. Let's put the kaleidoscope of 2020 up to our eye and turn the image wheel slowly. 

Bright colors of rebirth we expected in the spring lost their brilliance, their beauty, their appeal. Instead, we faced a pandemic, something most of us have never experienced. Schools closed. Restaurants and a host of other businesses shut their doors. Store shelves emptied faster than they could be restocked, and many necessities could not be found because warehouses ran out of supplies. Friends, neighbors, relatives, loved ones, and strangers got sick. We lost some of them—too many of them. We saw the best of people and the worst of people. It was and still is a frightening and unstable time. 

What else did we lose? Freedom to travel. Family get-togethers. Safe work environments. Visiting friends and relatives. Eating out. Quality time with adult children and grandchildren. Hugs. And much, much more. 

As though this were not enough, we rolled through the punches of a troubled summer into hurricane season. Families and towns impacted by the virus now face destruction at the hands of an angry Mother Nature. Wildfires continue to rage through the western United States, destroying millions of acres, numerous homes, and taking a toll in human and animal lives. Loss of income meant loss of homes to too many families. Some elected leaders around the world minimized the problem or chose to battle each other rather than battle the virus, fires, and other issues that led to these catastrophes. Sadly, the end to all this distress and much more does not appear to be in sight.

Bleak as all this is, has there been a bright side? True, it's a challenge to find anything good in this most forgettable year in modern times. Any stretch of the imagination about a bright side comes with a significant amount of tarnish. Still . . . 

We've had time to reflect on what's truly valuable to us. Hectic lifestyles often keep reflections at bay. Those lifestyles fell by the wayside as businesses closed and social distancing significantly diminished face-to-face meetings of any sort.

Many of us learned how to use Zoom, FaceTime, Skype, Google Hangouts, and other apps to keep in touch, often with people we've lost contact with over the busy years. Religious institutions resumed services through Zoom to reach homebound parishioners. Cuddles with grandchildren gave way to virtual hugs and conversations over digital communication devices. However, those who didn't have either the devices or the know-how to use the ones they possessed were shut out of this vital stay-in-touch method.

Many more examples could be cited, but the ones above make the point. The silver lining on the black cloud is so thin it can barely be seen. The tarnish on the bright side still resists efforts to remove it. 

As we enter the final quarter of this year, how are you coping?

Are you able to transfer our present reality into grist for your writing mill?

Have you renewed old friendships and drawn closer to family via Zoom, etc.?

What has helped you get through the past dark months?

Do people in your area comply with safety precautions to protect others?

How have people's attitudes affected you?

What has made it most difficult to adjust to our current situations?

Please share your feelings with our BRP community. Sharing unites us. It lends us support. It can change casual acquaintanceship into lasting friendship. Perhaps we can help one another travel this rocky, uninvited path to a better time. 

What do you think?

Editor Linda Lane has returned to her first love—writing—while maintaining her editing work. Her novels fall into the literary category because they are character driven rather than plot driven, but their quick pace reminds the reader of genre fiction. You can contact her through her websites: LSLaneBooks.com and DenverEditor.com.